A diagram of the electronic tattoo from the Motorola patent (Image credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)

Motorola, now owned by Google, has applied for a patent for technology that seems like complete science fiction: an electronic tattoo to be placed on a person’s neck that acts as a “mobile microphone, lie detector and digital display.”

Australian news outlet The Age reports that the electronic tattoo would eliminate background noise that can disturb phone conversations by capturing vibrations or sound directly from the user’s throat.

The tattoo would have its own power supply built-in and would transmit the sound through Bluetooth, near-field communication (NFC) or ZigBee.

The patent, filed in 2012 but published on Thursday, states that the tattoo could also be used as a lie detector, according to the patent. The tattoo would measure the electrical conductance of the skin, known as the “galvanic skin response.”

The galvanic skin response is used to indicate psychological or physiological arousal because both are linked to skin moisture, which causes a variation in electrical conductance.

“A user that may be nervous or engaging in speaking falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth-telling individual,” the patent states.

Indeed, skin conductivity is a measure regularly used in polygraph tests, though the American Psychological Association states, “the most practical advice is to remain skeptical about any conclusion wrung from a polygraph.”

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